The Greater Good
by Batmanskipper
Summary: Kowalski feels guilty about a choice he made which caused the death of a hostage. Will Kowalski drown himself in guilt or turn into the emotionless, objective leader Skipper wants him to be.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my second Penguins of Madagascar story. I've based this story on some of the references to events (ones I made up, not references to the TV show) in my previous story. So this is kind of a prequel. Hope you all enjoy it! Please review!**

Kowalski stared at the circuit board but nothing seemed to make sense. He stood up and started to pace the room. He should have come up with better options. He could think of hundreds now, but when it happened, his brain just seemed to stop working. He stopped pacing. It wasn't his fault, it was Skipper's! Skipper's bad leadership had gotten him in the position where there was only one possible option. Kowalski stormed out of the lab and into the main living area, where Rico and Skipper were playing a board game and private was watching the Lunicorns. Kowalski marched directly up to Skipper, grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against the wall. "Why, Skipper. How could you do that?" Kowalski shouted at the shorter penguin. Skipper promptly kicked Kowalski in the stomach, causing the scientist to release his grip, falling to the ground. Skipper looked down at Kowalski than at the rest of the team. "Private, Rico, how about you get us some snow cones." The two penguins nodded and left. It was obvious Kowalski needed some time alone.

"Kowalski, I understand that what happened last week upset you, but you can't shut yourself up in the lab then blame me when you can't take the pressure." Skipper resumed his seat at the table. Kowalski followed suit.  
"It was your poor leadership that led to that kitten's death, not my options!" Kowalski stood up and started to pace the room.  
"Kowalski, maybe I did do the wrong thing, and for that I'm sorry..."  
"Sorry isn't enough, Skipper."  
"Well, its the best I've got. I can't bring him back from the dead." Kowalski rushed towards the lab. "Maybe Skipper cant bring him back, but I know science can!" the desperate penguin thought. Kowalski wrote various mathematical equations on his white board, planning his latest idea, but no matter what he did he couldn't seem to find a way to get the machine to work. After a few minutes Skipper spoke, "Kowalski, you need to learn to let go."  
"I need to let go? No Skipper, I won't rest until I bring her back."  
"Kowalski, before you do something you regret, lets just talk about what happened. It might make you feel better." Kowalski continued to work on the invention.  
"That was an order, soldier. I can't have you moping about the lab on an impossible mission for the rest of your life." Kowalski put down the marker and faced Skipper. "You know what happened. You were there."  
"Just tell me how you saw it."

1800 Yesterday  
"Alright boys, Operation: raid the weapons lab before Hans can is a go." Skipper announced to the three penguins standing to attention before him, "Kowalski, options." Kowalski stood up in front of the group. He placed a map of the secret weapons facility on the stand.  
"At 1825 hours a pizza delivery van will pass by the zoo. It is, in fact, a highly armed super-spy pizza delivery van..."  
"So is it the van or the pizzas that are highly armed, Kowalski? Private interrupted.  
"Both. Moving on. The van is delivering the pizzas to the very weapons lab Hans will be breaking in to. All we have to do is hide in the pizza delivery van and it will drive us directly into the the main complex. From there, all we have to do is enter the vault, which will be child's play."

1848 Yesterday  
"Your right, Kowalski, it was pretty easy. Too easy." However, Skipper's paranoia faded into the background as soon as he took his first look at the weapons the vault contained.  
"Hoover dam!"  
"Hubble's toothbrush!"  
"Hallo Skipper, my old frenemy!" All three penguins wheeled around to see the deranged puffin standing directly behind them. "Thank you Skipper, for clearing the traps for me."  
"Egad!" The four penguins jumped into a fighting stance, Rico regurgitating a stick of dynamite.  
"Kaboom?" Rico asked motioning towards the puffin.  
"ARE YOU INSANE!" Kowalski shouted at Rico, automatically regretting his choice of words, "Half the weapons in this room are filled with high explosives! You'll blow us all to bits."  
"Aw." Rico swallowed the unlit stick of dynamite.  
"Anyway," the puffin rolled his eyes, "Shall we get to the point."  
"Yeah. Rico, fish me!" Skipper held out his flipper.  
"I do not have time for fish fighting today, Skipper." Hans darted across the room, the penguins in pursuit. He grabbed a prototype plasma disintegration, firing at the penguins behind him as he jumped off a stack of crates, over the penguins heads, and towards the door. The penguins started to follow when the crates began to collapse.'  
"Evasive!" Shouted Skipper. The penguins dodged the falling crates, and resumed chase. Because of the distraction, Hans had a good head start. The penguins chased the deranged bird out of the facility, dodging guards, security cameras, and lasers.

It took them several minutes to catch up to Hans in their commandeered vehicle. They were chasing Hans through the streets of Manhattan when Hans took a wrong turn and crashed into a dumpster. He jumped out of the car. The good news: the only other person on the street hadn't been hit by the car. She was a fluffy, white, and obviously domesticated kitten. The bad news: Hans saw her too. He pointed the plasma blaster at the kitten. The four penguins stopped the car, and got out on the opposite side of the car to Hans, giving them cover from the plasma blaster.  
"Well, well, Skipper. It would seem that I have the upper hand. Make one move against me, and I shoot the kitten." Hans shouted victoriously.  
"Kowalski, options!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi again, sorry if my spelling is terrible, i didn't have much time to check. this will be the last chapter of this particular story, but its part of a series, so i will be writing other similar stories focusing on other penguins tomorrow.**

"Well... um..." Kowalski wrote frantically on his clipboard, "Theres only two: we can allow Hans to escape, or we can go for a long range attack, which would probably result in the hostage... you know."

"Well the choice is obvious, we let Hans escape." Skipper replied.

"Wait, Skipper. Hans obviously wanted that plasma disintegrator for a specific reason, namely, to complete the destructorizor!"

"Whats that?" Asked Skipper.

"Its a really really big death ray." Kowalski replied matter-of-factly.

"Are there any other options," Skipper asked disparately, "Can't we just attack him from behind or something like that?"

"I'm afraid not. If you look behind us you'll see a store selling mirrors, some of which are displayed outside. Hans can see everything we're doing. If one of us disappeared, he'd shoot."

"Why hasn't he already run away while we've spent all this time talking?" Asked Private.

"Because the street he's on is a dead end. He's waiting for us to back up so he can pass." Kowalski replied. As if on cue, Hans shouted, "Skipper! I can't wait all day. I will give you five minutes before I do something unplesant!"

The four penguins stood motionless for one of those precious minutes, considering the implications of either decision. Finally, Private spoke, "We save the hostage. We don't actually know if he is going to kill anyone."

"Well I don't think he's going to use the plasma disintegrator to fix his coffee machine, which so happens to be a freeze ray. Hans is Hans. Of course he is going to kill people." Skipper replied sarcastically.

"Its still wrong! I won't do it!"

"Private," Skipper looked the younger penguin in the eye after regaining his calm, "Sometimes innocent people have to be sacrificed for the greater good."

"ave ra kitty." Rico demanded, glaring at the leader. Skipper looked down at his feet. Two of his men didn't agree with him. Was he making the right decision? While Skipper was thinking, Kowalski had continued to make calculations on his clipboard. "Skipper," The tallest penguin reported, "There is a 8% chance that if three of us were to stand in front of Rico, blocking Hans' view for a few seconds, Rico could regurgitate a long range weapon and shoot him before he can shoot the hostage. It's risky because Hans will probably shoot and take his chances dodging us as soon as he sees we're up to something" Skipper considered this. "8% will have to be enough. On my mark."

"Well, you know what happened after that. Hans shot the hostage as soon as we stepped in front of Rico. We failed Skipper. I failed. We didn't even manage to catch Hans." Kowalski finished his story, "if there's any way I can bring that hostage back, I will spend the rest of my life trying."

"Kowalski, even science cant bring her back, at least not sane or in particularly good physical shape. You know I'm right because you told me the same think about Johnson, when we tried to re-animate him. I'll always remember what you said, Kowalski. "Sometimes, you just have to let go.""

Kowalski exited the lab. Skipper was right. But he had to do something. He couldn't just sit there. Skipper seemed to know what was going through his head. "Kowalski, This isnt the first time i've made a decisioin like this. I know it hurts, but if you really want to honor them, don't spend the rest of your life trying to bring them back." Skipper was right, deep down Kowalski knew it.

Private and Rico returned with snow cones. Kowalski looked at the icy desserts. Private handed one to him. For a split second he hesitated, then he took one. He had to remember to live.

Ten years later

It was a different team, but the same mission. Skipper had sacrificed himself for the team ten years ago. Private had gotten married, and moved to that dream cottage in Nova Scotia. Kowalski had to say, he was happy for the kid. Kid? Private had just turned thirty! There was only him and Rico left, and he was the commander. Headquarters had tried sending replacement members, but eventually gave up. Nobody could replace Skipper and Private.

Kowalski stared at the fort below him the rain beating down on his feathers. They had been scouting the fort for about an hour. It was swarming with Blowhole's lobster army. They had been fighting Blowhole for far too long. They had lost too may friends, and in Skipper's case, family, to that maniacal dolphin. Kowalski had to finish him once and for all, if it that was the last thing he did. However, in the part of his mind that wasn't a soldier, the part that was just Kowalski. the part that cried over Doris when she dumped him, the part that giggled with excitement whenever he finished some kind of invention, protested. If they were to completely annihilate Blowhole, he would have to destroy his army too, in order to prevent his followers from carrying on his work. Could he be so ruthless as to do that, even if it was for the greater good? But he knew he had to, because one day, they would slip up. One day, Blowhole would succeed in his evil scheme. Could he sacrifice hundreds of people who had made their choice, informed or not, to work with Blowhole, to save possibly thousands of innocents? It was the same decision Skipper had made years ago that he had hated Skipper for making all these years, but now that he was faced with the problem, he knew there was only one option.

"Kowalski?" Rico asked, waiting for his orders. Kowalski said nothing. Skipper was gone. He was the one who had to make the decisions. Think, Kowalski, Think! What would Skipper do?

"Kowalski?" Rico grunted, snapping his leader back to reality. Kowalski looked down at the fort, his eyes as cold as steel."Take no prisoners."


End file.
